“I want to work”, “I want to set up my own restaurant or catering service”, “I want to get out of the camp, have my apartment, be respected”. These are some of the aspirations shared by a group of Roma women that took part in the training course for Roma mediators and Social Entrepreneurship for Roma communities, organised by CESIE in the framework of the SERCo project from June 19th to 21st.
Delivered by three trainers, one of which is a cultural mediator, the training course covered several topics during 3 full days of work. The 4 participants, all Roma women between 19 and 50 years old, actively learned about social enterprises, what they are, how they can be set up, what they can achieve, and what obstacles there may be to setting them up through the first and third modules of training of the SERCo programme.
The second training module provided an understanding of the Roma cultural mediator, the role, functions, and relations that such a professional can have in a way that is supportive to the Roma communities. The final module explored the practicalities of setting up and sustaining a social enterprise, including an overview of emotional management for entrepreneurs.
The overall feedback by the trainees was very positive, but what really matters is that the course was an occasion to unlock their dreams, and share their concerns, fears and obstacles regarding their own social inclusion in a society that needs to recognise and fight a set of harmful stereotypes, perceived by the same trainees as the real issue and number one obstacle to Roma inclusion.
What happened this past June set in motion a whole set of project activities that will lead the 4 trainees to become trainers themselves and train 4 Roma people each on the topics of social entrepreneurship and the role of the Roma mediator, with an aim to support the development of a social enterprise idea that will be set up thanks to the one-to-one mentoring service that CESIE will provide to the aspiring entrepreneurs.
The second round of training will kick-off in September with an information event and public roundtable organised with the support of the Roma community.
SERCo is a 2-year project co-funded by the Justice Programme 2014-2020 with the aim to promote social economy as an effective instrument for national and EU Roma social inclusion strategies.
The project partnership holds together 8 organisations:
- University of Piraeus Research Center (Greece, coordinator);
- ERIO – European Roma Information Office (Belgium);
- IDEA ROM Onlus (Italy);
- AMALIPE – Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance (Bulgary);
- AFRR – Asociatia Femeilor Rome din Romania (Romania);
- FPC – Fundació Privada Pere Closa (Spain);
- FOUR ELEMENTS (Greece);
- TMAF – Tolerance and Mutual Aid Foundation (Bulgary).
You can follow the project FB page and SERCo project website.
For further information, please contact justice@cesie.org.
